Lost Eden
by Nagyra
Summary: YAOI. An Alternate Universe fic. The great empire of Genuseris will stop at nothing to fulfill its dream for complete domination and its up to 3 denizens of the waste planet Quisterra to keep the whole system from falling completely into war.
1. Prologue

  
Lost Eden

  
** Prologue **

** By Yev and Nagyra **

  


Quisterra was the largest planet in the Sanctus System--an affinity of seven planets with it's center being the great star, Aleia. Quisterra was also the unofficial waste dump of the Sanctus System. People who had once tried living in it could not stand to stay for long. It was a habitat where people gathered in swarms, dismayed by their homeland, and took off in an attempt to look for better places to dwell in.

It was a strange thing though, how Quisterra's orbit seemed to be the perfect position that would give it the most agreeable climate and ambience in all the seven planets. But Quisterra's atmosphere was a thick heavy cloud of gray that hardly allowed any light to shine through and that gave the surmise plenty left to be considered.

Then again, perhaps it was wrong to call it a habitat. It hardly had anything left to be called a habitat after all. If viewed from outer space, it would just be a dull gray planet. There weren't any blue waters and green fields as one might expect from a "living world". Of course, there were a few settlements in Quisterra that were still considered "livable", but most people don't bother anymore and simply migrate. The small settlements that DID exist in Quisterra was under the Consul, voted into power by the people.

Most of the immigrants from Quisterra usually find themselves ending up in the five meager planets orbiting Aleia. Asa, the closest to Quisterra was perhaps the greenest planet in the Sanctus System, not to mention the smallest. Run by the Asa Dominus, it was a center of agriculture, most especially, farming. With fresh air and clean water, it was a favorite place among the populace of Sanctus.

There was also Rhea. A planet, just a few kilometers wider in diameter than Asa. It didn't stand out too well. It was a simple planet; well-balanced in trade, agriculture and industry. A neutral planet, if one might say. Never in the extremes, but just in the middle.

Third was Frater, the "gambling planet". It was a network of underground markets and the Frater Dominus was only leader by name. The ones who truly run the planet consisted of the most influential families in Frater. It was difficult to survive there without any connections, and yet it flourished. Dirty money, clean money, no one living there knew the difference. And eventually, it was one of the richest--economically speaking--planets in the system.

The fourth planet was Fidelis. It was a center of knowledge and research. As much as it hardly had half the resources Asa did, it was technologically equipped to survive.

Then there was Vehetus. The "cold planet" as it has been called. With its unstable climate, it had thrice the population of Quisterra--which wasn't much. It was also considered an "untamed land" and explorers prowl its icy surface intent on new discovery.

The last was Genuseris. The only planet that rivaled Quisterra in size. It was the most powerful and most technologically advanced in the system--Fidelis only came a close second. Being a center of industry and military power, it had built itself a mighty empire in the past seven hundred centuries since Aleia Proxima began.

And one difference that set it apart from the other planets--aside from Quisterra--was that its leader was not called Dominus. It was the Aquila Potens who ruled Genuseris. And at the dawn of mid-7th century Aleia Proxima, Taoka, 16th Aquila Potens of Genuseris, had set his eyes on one goal: expansion.

A decade into his reign, Genuseris had slowly began pushing through the borders of the other planets and chartered embassies everywhere under the pretense of establishing a "better and stronger relationship" among its neighbors.

Of course, everyone had an inkling of what Taoka was really up to, only that they didn't have the strength to stop him completely and as the years progressed, the other planets of the Sanctus System had come to openly fear the empire for what it really was--a glory-hunting nation set on controlling the whole system. But again, no one had the power to stop Taoka completely although the planet governments had taken measures to slow him down.

One thing about Taoka though, was that he considered one planet an eyesore to the great design he had consigned himself to construct. Quisterra.

He believed that the planet was a "hopeless case" and all of the attempts by its present and past Consuls to revitalize it had always come to naught. Quisterra was too lost to be saved and all it was good for was a dump for materials that hardly had any salvage value--if they had any at all.

But in the year 764 Aleia Proxima, things were beginning to change. Political struggles over Quisterra arose. Some believed that the planet could, indeed, be saved after all. A grand restoration was being put into order and Taoka was in the front line to protest such a move.

But in the same year, Taoka had fallen into a very sickly state and in less than two months, passed away. Without declaring an heir to take his place, the Genuseris Senate had been on an uproar. Division and conflict plagued Genuseris for a period of six years and at that time, the empire's hold on the other planets had considerably weakened as it switched from one indefinite ruler to the next.

In 770 Aleia Proxima, a proper Aquila Potens had been assigned into power and at that time Quisterra was in the early stages of its restoration. The death of its former Consul paved way for the appointment of a new one and in the year 773 Aleia Proxima, there were few people in the galaxy of Sofia that has not heard of the names Ryota and Minami.

****

~~~ End Prologue ~~~

****

Note: We'd like to warn you now, this fic might confuse you to no ends. ^^;;;;;


	2. Chapter 1: The Quisterra Restoration Cou...

  
Lost Eden

  
** Chapter 1: The Quisterra Restoration Council **

** By Yev and Nagyra **

  


Kenji Fujima slumped down on one of the empty stools and sighed deeply. The pub was packed as usual in a Friday evening and he had just about had enough of the customers pestering about.

He was no damn prostitute, thank you very much. If it weren't for the fact that he needed the money, he'd be out of this shit hole. Then again, everywhere in Quisterra was a shit hole. This pub, the other one like it just across the street, the apartment he shared with Mitsui. . . .

He'd faced the fact the moment he could think, and at sixteen, he'd grown used to knowing--and accepting--what a dung heap Quisterra really was.

Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his thick brown hair and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his sleeve. He slowly counted the minutes before his shift would officially be over. But again, as was Fate's most favorite past time--torturing every other, no, make that, EVERY damned person in the fucking universe--the seconds ticked like hours, the minutes ticked like days.

"Hey, cutie! Get me another glass of beer!"

A low growl escaped Fujima's throat. First, because he had been thinking of lying low until his shift was over and before he could even act on it, he'd already been spotted. And second, he hated being called "cutie". He was no girl, and he was definitely not some little trollop who'd throw himself about. Especially, to drunk and dirty men with rotting yellow teeth and bad breath.

People like that bumbling oaf who had just ordered another glass of beer. He was always there. Fujima had no idea where the dunce got the money to spend on beer and smoke and--he just got that bad taste in his mouth--harlots, but this guy had definitely been checking him out for quite a while now.

How he wished Mitsui worked here with him. Then his friend could teach that dolt a thing or two about personal hygiene--among other things. Passing by a couple of tables as he made his way to the bar, another couple of dimwits propositioned him. He ignored the first one, and had been very tempted to smash his tray onto the second one's head, but after being reprimanded repeatedly over not showing the proper "courtesy" to paying customers, he learned to control himself and ignored him too.

Just as he was reaching the bar, a third one came up to him and propositioned him in a rather polite--no, make that in a NOT-SO rude way. He had enough courtesy to not-so rude people--having to deal with the worst of the lot most of time in his god-forsaken life--and so he quietly shook his head before stepping past the man and to the bar to get the other stupid man his stupid drink. Yep. He was never good at remembering names--or more frankly, he only remembered the names of the people who counted.

That's his flat mate, Mitsui and . . . that's about it.

Not that he found complete displeasure at the attention. He was flattered to a certain extent--about one percent of what he felt, the entire ninety-nine was, of course, a different matter. And with a bunch of drunks being the ones giving the attention, that small one percent was dropping down to zero at an alarming rate.

Its not that he didn't like men--he liked men a LOT. If Mitsui wasn't his friend and he wasn't too keen on keeping him as a friend, he'd have jumped him long before. Its just that there were never any decent men in Quisterra--at least not in his part of the planet, the people there knew nothing but drink. Then again, when you lived in Quisterra, what else was left to do? And also, there were few men--and women--in the ghastly place to begin with.

If there was just one decent guy who'd come up to him and ask him to be with him for life, he'd accept it without any hesitation--mainly because decent guys were so rare and he knew when to take the opportunity when it was offered. And having an ACTUAL decent guy propose to you was a single chance in a billion.

But, as Fate was happily pulling her strings, he hadn't come across one decent guy in sixteen years--besides Mitsui and he'd already crossed him out as a possible lover--and he had this gut feeling he wouldn't run across one, more so, make him fall madly in love with him, in the next two decades at the least.

"What's taking so damn long?" he suddenly snapped at the bartender. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the delay--perhaps his shift would be over by the time the beer arrives and he wouldn't have to come to that disgusting slob of a man to serve him his drink.

The bartender looked at him tiredly. "We're out, I just checked. They're refilling. It might take a while."

"Oh." They could take their time.

Leaning on the bar, he crossed his arms after pulling his sleeves up to his elbows. It was so damn hot.

Busying himself with his feet tracing the cracks on the tiled floor underneath him and shutting out the buzz of all the people in the pub, he almost missed one particular conversation that had been the topic of his and Mitsui's early morning debates lately.

A couple just a few meters away from him were discussing in not-so-hushed tones about what was perhaps the most interesting--and ostentatious--thing that had ever and would ever happen to Quisterra yet.

"The Quisterra Restoration Council members are being finalized tonight," one of them said--Fujima wasn't sure which one though as both faces were quite hidden from view by several burly men leaning on the bar counter. Luckily, they were conked out from drinking too much that only their snores filled the air and as loud as they were, they didn't completely drown out the sound of the conversation Fujima had interest enough to listen in.

Edging a bit to his right, he tried to look around the unconscious men lying face down on the counter without being too conspicuous--to no avail.

With a shrug, he sat on the stool closest to him and contented himself with just listening.

"Why just now?" the other one said.

"BECAUSE people keep backing out. We have efficient men and women but very few of those have the commitment to take up something of this caliber," the first one answered.

"Hmm, I suppose. . . ."

"This is the first time you've agreed with me on something tonight, did you know that?"

"Er--"

"Oh, shut up and finish your drink. We have to go."

"Hey! What--"

"And don't start with me because I know the moment you start its going to be hell making you stop so be a good subordinate to your superior, chug down your drink and get your butt off your stool. Oh wait, don't go so fast. You're a klutz when you're in a hurry."

"I resent that!"

Fujima chuckled slightly. Well, he liked the first guy's attitude. . . .

"Yo, Fujima! Beer's ready!"

Fujima groaned. "Yeah, coming." Jumping off his seat, he marched towards the bar, grumbling about his rotten streak of bad luck that just goes on and on and. . . .

"Oomph!"

A rather large body collided into him and Fujima found himself lying flat on his back, Fate and her strings dancing around his head with a big smile on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said a deep voice and a strong hand grabbed his shoulder before gently setting him back onto his feet again.

"Hey, Maki. You were saying about klutzes and hurrying up?"

"Hanamichi," the man said in a warning tone before he looked down at Fujima. "You all right?"

Fujima blinked and shook his head to clear it. He blinked a couple of times more to clear his vision and he found himself face to face--well, not REALLY face to face as the other man was taller--with what perhaps was the hottest guy he'd ever laid eyes on in . . . well, since he first laid eyes on Mitsui. But then again, Mitsui was . . . Mitsui. This guy was . . . this guy was . . . well, he had no idea, but tall, dark and handsome coupled with a really great body and sexy voice, oh, and PLUS manners was DEFINITELY something he didn't see everyday.

He nodded dumbly, a soft, "Eh," escaping his lips.

The man smiled at him. "That's good." He turned to his companion which, Fujima just noticed, was a rather tall one with a shocking mop of red hair. He was also quite a looker--handsome face, strong built. . . .

"Let's go."

Alarm bells went off Fujima's head. No way was he letting this guy leave without even knowing . . . well, ANYTHING about him.

"Ah, wait, I haven't seen you around this place before," Fujima began, feeling a bit stupid. "You guys new here?"

"Oh, we're from the new office," the man replied. "QRC?"

Quisterra Restoration Council. So they were talking about business a while ago. Who would have guessed?

"Yeah, that's real interesting," Fujima said lamely, thinking of something witty or interesting to say. He new the Quisterra Restoration Council and of how Ryota Miyagi--the newly-appointed Consul of Quisterra--had disbanded the former group due to incompetence and was establishing a new one. Personally, Fujima didn't see the point in thew restoration. He'd lived on Quisterra long enough to know what a hopeless case it is, but he couldn't say that to a possible QRC member.

"Well, we have to go. Got a meeting in a few minutes." The man looked at his watch before turning back to him. "It was nice meeting you. I'm Shinichi Maki, by the way." He held out his hand.

Fujima shook it, trying hard not to blush. "Uh, yeah . . ."

"This is Hanamichi Sakuragi," Maki introduced his friend.

The redhead nodded at him, looking slightly peeved about something--Fujima guessed it was still about Maki's comment about him being a klutz when in a hurry.

And then Maki looked at him expectantly.

Fujima blinked. "Hm?"

"Well, it would be pretty nice to know your name."

"Oh!" Fujima almost slapped himself. "Uh, my name. . . . It's . . . it's . . ." He blinked a couple of times. He could have sworn he knew his name a few seconds ago . . .

"Ei, Fujima! The beer!"

Fujima twirled around to face the bartender who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised, a glass of beer in his hand. "Er, coming!"

"So, Fujima, eh?" Maki said with a small smile. "Pleasure meeting you, Fujima."

"Uh, thanks?" Fujima said, and this time, he REALLY slapped himself.

"Fujima! Are you working here or not?!"

Fujima groaned. "Yeah, yeah. . . ."

"We have to go. See you around," Maki said before heading for the pub exit and disappearing through the doors, Hanamichi not far behind.

Fujima sighed heavily and buried his face in his hands. First decent guy he met and he blew it! Damn, he hated this place.

Banging his head a couple of times with his tray, he headed for the bar to get the stupid drink from the stupid bartender to deliver to the stupid lout, all the while thinking, "I HAVE to get out of this fucking planet!!!"

  
***  


Sakuragi kicked a random pebble on the road as he followed Maki down the never-crowded streets of the Quisterran town. He was bored as hell. After being stationed to man the new office of the QRC built in this boring little community where pubs were apparently the main source of income--AND the main cause of expense, he had pretty much nothing to do but sit and mope and get bossed around.

He hated being bossed around. But it WAS his first year in the Quisterra Restoration Council and he was determined to stay as long as possible--which meant he had to take crap from his superiors as much as he hated doing it. Besides, it was all he had left. Maki, Ryota and Kogure and the rest of the QRC people were his family. His only family. Of course, he wouldn't admit that to anyone, especially Maki--the guy being the stuck up stag that he was. Although Maki DID have a lot of things to be stuck up about--and one of them was being QRC's top man at the age of eighteen.

There were also a lot of things that intrigued Sakuragi about the other man. For one, he didn't seem too interested in settling down.

"Hey Maki," he said as they rounded one corner. "You ever planning on marrying?"

"I'm eighteen."

"Most people marry at eighteen."

"In this planet, yes," Maki said. "But eighteen's still too young an age."

Sakuragi laughed out loud. "Are you saying you're young, Maki? Just in case you haven't noticed, you don't look eighteen at all."

"Shut up."

Sakuragi rolled his eyes. "You're no fun."

Maki ignored him and kept on walking.

Sakuragi, being one who wasn't used to people not talking--or more exactly, HE wasn't used to not talking, spoke up again. "You know, Maki, I didn't really ask if you were to marry now. I asked if you ever plan to."

Silence.

"Well, do you?"

Maki stopped walking and turned to him. "Sakuragi, this is Quisterra. You don't start families in Quisterra."

Sakuragi blinked. Well, yeah. that was true. Few families could ever flourish in Quisterra. You would have to migrate and THEN you could breed like rabbits all you want. But that wasn't his point.

"I'm not talking about starting a family, Maki."

Maki sighed, exasperated. "What else is the purpose of marriage, Sakuragi?" he asked before proceeding to walk in a much faster pace.

Sakuragi didn't have problems catching up. "You're so technical, aren't you? Well let me change the question for you then. You ever plan on hooking up with someone? When I said hooking up, I didn't mean marriage, okay? I meant--"

"I know what you meant," Maki muttered. " Sakuragi, you don't PLAN hooking up. It just happens."

"How do YOU know, it's not like you ever got together with somebody before--don't deny it."

"I won't," Maki said. "But that's beside the point. I've met and seen enough people and I know it isn't a matter of planning."

"Then it's a matter of what?"

"Circumstance."

"Excuse me?"

"And maybe even fate."

That made the redhead pause for one brief second. Maki believing in fate? Well, that was something new. "Uh-huh. Whatever you say."

"You don't sound convinced."

"You noticed?"

Maki laughed softly. "I don't know. I never thought about it before. And why have you been asking me these questions all of a sudden?"

"I was just curious," Sakuragi admitted. "Because by the off chance that you find someone and decide to marry her, then the QRC would be needing a new head. The opportunity is perfect for me to step in . . ."

"If I ever DO leave the QRC, Sakuragi," Maki said as they passed through the gates of the QRC Main Office in the region, "it would be Kogure who'd replace me, most likely. And NOT you."

Sakuragi grinned. "Ah, but Kogure's such a sweetie. He wouldn't mind giving the position up for someone more capable. . . ."

"More capable than him?" Maki asked. "Besides me, I can't think of anyone else. Can you?"

Sakuragi's eyes narrowed into slits. "Why you--"

Maki shook his head as he reached for the knob of the front door and turned it.

The two stepped into the small regional office of the Quisterra Restoration Council. It still needed a bit of tidying up, but it had somehow been reduced to what could be considered an office than the huge dump it had been that morning. Eight tables were neatly aligned, four on each side with their respective chairs. Two couches sat by the front door across each other while the small staircase on the other end had been cleared of some hazardous materials most of which were composed of banana peels from Sakuragi's eating spree that morning.

Sakuragi whistled under his breath. "Man, Kogure sure works fast."

"Smart, efficient and a fast worker," Maki said with a nod. "So you see, Sakuragi, there's no competition."

"Maki, you're cutting your life short."

Maki ignored him with a small laugh and peered over a tall stack of papers on one of the tables to find Kogure, head resting on his arms as he slept his exhaustion off, glasses askew.

Sakuragi was less subtle though and when he reached forward to tap Kogure awake, his arm knocked back the stacks of papers sending everything crashing to the floor in a messy heap.

Kogure sat bolt upright immediately. "What the--" Then he groaned, burying his face in his hands when he saw the mess Sakuragi had made. "I spent three hours arranging them from page one to six hundred!"

Maki sighed heavily and bent forward to retrieve some of the papers. "What are these?"

"Reports," Kogure said, looking as if he was close to panicking. He scooped up as many of the papers as he could, dumped it on his desk and began to look for the first page. "They're filtering from everywhere. Mainly from Asa. It's about Minami. It seems he's trying to sabotage the Restoration again. We've got supplies ordered from Asa and Rhea and they're stuck by the sentry point."

"Sentry point?"

"Yeah," Kogure said, finally pulling out the first page and was now looking for page two as Sakuragi piled up the rest of the papers in random order on the floor. "Sentry POINTS, actually. Genuseris started to plant them everywhere."

"They can't do that."

"They can, actually," Kogure said. "A small congregation was held the other day in Frater--it's not supposed to go public until tomorrow. Minami managed to coerce the Frater, Vehetus and Asa Dominus to sign a military alliance treaty with them. They have right of sentries in all areas of the three planets. And the supplies would have to pass by Asa to get to Quisterra, which is the problem. The sentries are blocking them. Consul Miyagi was negotiating with them a while ago, I don't know if they were able to reach a compromise."

"Damn. Minami really hates us, doesn't he?" Sakuragi muttered from the floor.

"Wait a second. A military alliance?" Maki asked. "For what? There's no war to fight out there."

"Well, apparently a couple of legions have been spotted just by the borders of the system and the leaders have reason to believe it's from the Tesca System."

"Tesca?"

"Rumors say the Tesca Federation's planning an invasion. Genuseris proposed to start a federation of our own--just for precaution or at least that's what they were saying. The Frater, Vehetus and Asa Dominus were pretty much convinced. The Rhea Dominus and Fidelis Dominus are thinking about it. Our Consul smells foul play."

"Of course it's foul," Maki said, standing up. "The legions spotted were probably theirs in the guise of Tesca soldiers. They're just thinking of a way to get back the hold they had on the system when Taoka was still the Aquila Potens."

"Well, actually, if that was true, then they've succeeded. At least halfway. They still need to convince Fidelis, Asa and Quisterra. Asa and Fidelis won't hold out too long, I'm sure," Kogure said, just about close to finding the fifteenth page.

"This is just great," Sakuragi muttered, finally finishing his random piling and was starting to stand up.

"Thanks," Kogure said, smile a bit strained. Maki knew Kogure would have to sort out through the rest of the papers and it would've been better if Sakuragi hadn't put them together to make a messy pile of his own. But, of course, Kogure remained quiet about it.

"It amazes me how you could be so nice," Maki commented with a small frown.

Kogure chose to ignore that comment. "If you really want the details, why don't you ask the Consul himself? He's upstairs."

"What?" Sakuragi asked, jumping and sending his pile of papers crashing down once more. "Oh no--" He bent down to pick them up.

"No!" Kogure said, shooting up from his chair and raising his hands. "Don't! Er, leave them to me. Yeah. I'll handle it."

"You sure?"

"Sure!" Kogure said with an enthusiastic nod. "Go up the stairs now. Go. Go. PLEASE go."

Sakuragi shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Maki suppressed a laugh as he made his way up the wooden staircase with Sakuragi right behind him. Faintly he heard a, "All right, five hundred and eighty-one pages left to go."

Shaking his head, he entered the single room upstairs where behind the small wooden desk sat a little man in a suit, a phone receiver stuck to his face and piles of papers lying on his desk and on his lap.

This man with the short and curly black hair and the worn-out expression on his face was the Consul of Quisterra, Ryota Miyagi. At the young age of twenty he had been put into power by the Quisterran people and he seemed to look the worst for wear at that moment. Dark circles were under his eyes and his skin was paler than usual.

"Yeah, yeah," Miyagi was saying. He raised a finger and mouthed "In a minute," to the two of them before returning to the conversation. "I understand. But we need those supplies as soon as possible. . . . Don't give me that crap. Get it done. . . . Well, Minami doesn't seem to be too enthusiastic in sorting out the situation, just in case you haven't noticed--that is if he wasn't responsible for the delay in the first pla--WHAT? Well, don't blame me if you can't make a decision for yourself. You call yourself a leader? For crying out loud, if you can't help me, just say it out loud--yeah, yeah, I get the picture. . . . No thanks. I'm sending my own men over. Thanks for nothing." With that, he slammed the receiver back on it's base and smashed his head once on the desk.

Sakuragi was on his feet immediately. "Hey, easy there, buddy. You okay?"

Miyagi shot up, grinding his palms down on the solid oak of his table. "Do I look like I'm okay, Sakuragi?!?!?! I'm close to the edge! I've just about had enough of Minami! I've had enough of this planet! I've had enough of this system!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Sakuragi said, reaching out and patting the Consul on the shoulder. "Don't give up on us. You're the CONSUL for crying out loud."

"I'm too young for this--" He looked over Sakuragi's shoulder to Maki. "Care to trade places?"

Maki approached him and smiled sympathetically. "Just take it easy. What's the problem?"

"That was the Asa Dominus," Miyagi said, falling back onto his seat. "The gist of it is that I was calling him and asking him to handle the situation about the supplies--since it IS in his planet's territory--but he says he can't do anything about it. He's a weak old dunce."

"And?"

"I'm sending some men over."

"Us?" Sakuragi asked. It was usually them. And the redhead was more than excited with the prospect. He'd been stuck in this region for too damn long.

Miyagi shook his head. "No. I have something else to have you do."

Maki frowned. "Is that what the meeting is all about?"

"Part of it," Miyagi said. "Maki I'm removing you as the head of the QRC."

Maki blinked. "What?"

Sakuragi was surprised himself. Maki was the best head the Quisterra Restoration Council has ever had. Why would Miyagi remove him?

"Don't take me wrong, you're the best man for the job. But the task I'm giving you would require so much of your time--you wouldn't be able to manage the QRC anymore," Miyagi said quickly.

"What kind of task is it?"

Miyagi took a deep breath. "Investigation, Maki. Minami's up to something and we need to place a finger on it before it completely gets out of control. I need proof. Proof against Minami that's strong enough to convince the other planets that we're heading for trouble in this federation scheme of his."

Sakuragi's eyes widened. "You're asking us to dig up some dirt on him?"

"I'm asking you to find out if the dirt really is there--although I'm pretty sure it is," Miyagi said, "and what its about."

"And when we do get to the bottom of this, what do you plan to do?" Maki asked carefully.

"It depends," Miyagi said, sitting back down and running a hand through his disheveled hair. "If the Tesca System really plans to make an attack then I'm all for the federation scheme. But if Genuseris is just playing games with us, then I'll do my best to show the other leaders the truth."

"How long do we have?" Maki inquired after a few minutes of silence.

Sakuragi frowned. "We?"

"I assume Sakuragi's with me on this?"

"Yep. You're going with him, Sakuragi" Miyagi said with a nod. "And Kogure too. I want the three of you on this job. The next congregation--Its public this time.--will be in two months. You have until that time to sort things out."

Maki nodded. "I understand."

"I really appreciate this," said Miyagi and looking it.

Maki shrugged. "Part of the job. Come on, Sakuragi."

The redhead blinked a couple of times more before waving good-bye to Miyagi and scrambling to catch up with Maki. "Hey, where do we start with this thing?"

"We check the positions of the Genuseris' sentries," Maki answered simply, reaching the bottom of the stairs and approaching Kogure. "Leave that to the others. We're going."

Kogure peered over the already tall stack of papers in front of him, clutching the bundle as he spotted Sakuragi. "Where?"

"On a trip. To Asa."

"Asa?" Kogure repeated, standing up.

"I'll tell you the details on the way, meanwhile, I need some information on those sentries," Maki was saying as he hauled Kogure from his place behind the table and to the door.

"Er, I have some files at the apartment--"

"Get them and pack your stuff," Maki said. "Good for two months."

Kogure's eyes widened. "Two months?"

Maki nodded. "Two months." He turned to Sakuragi. "Get moving. There's little time to waste."

Sakuragi sighed. Well, he wouldn't be bored to hell anymore, but he'll still be bossed around pretty much. He shrugged. At least there was SOME improvement there.

****

~~~ End Chapter 1 ~~~


	3. Chapter 2: The Floorboards That Break

  
Lost Eden

  
** Chapter 2: The Floorboards That Break **

** By Yev and Nagyra **

  


Fujima kicked the door to his and Mitsui's apartment open and threw his bag onto one of the bunks before promptly closing the door behind him and banging his head repeatedly on the rotting wood.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered every time his head made contact.

"Hey, take it easy. The door's not as strong as your head you know."

Fujima sighed heavily and turned around. His roommate, Mitsui, was at the corner of the room, sitting on the counter with his legs and arms crossed. He looked particularly dashing--as always--in his nice black leather attire. Then again, black leather WAS Mitsui's standard attire--but that didn't necessarily mean Fujima ever got tired of seeing him in them.

"Few things ARE weaker than this stupid door of ours," Fujima countered, jumping onto his bunk and wincing as the rusty metal creaked under his weight.

"What's wrong now?" Mitsui asked, sliding off the counter and making his way to Fujima's bunk.

"I'm such a big idiot!" Fujima groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"Uh-huh, I gathered that much when you entered," Mitsui said, sitting down at the foot of the bed and pulling Fujima's arm. "But banging your head on an already beaten down door won't make you any smarter. Now come on, you need a massage. BADLY."

Fujima was only too happy to comply as he sat up and laid back down the other way around so his head was resting on Mitsui's lap.

Mitsui then proceeded to slowly knead at Fujima's temples with his strong fingers. "What happened? Bad day at work?"

"Did you have to ask?" Fujima muttered, closing his eyes. "Work's ALWAYS bad."

"Yep, but then you usually come home tired and indifferently pissed."

"Indifferently pissed? What the hell is that?"

Mitsui shrugged. "Something only you could pull off. Well, anyway, I figured work today was worse than bad."

"Oh, Mitsui, it was TERRIBLE!" Fujima said, attempting to sit up but stopped when Mitsui restrained him.

"Uh-huh."

"I met this . . . guy."

"Another one of those harlot-loving bastards?"

"Hardly," Fujima said, shifting on his back. "He was . . . great. Wonderful. God, Mitsui, he was SO hot and he had gentility!"

"Which, I'm sure, scores a couple of points more than the regular scoundrels."

"It scores a hundred points more!" Fujima corrected. "A thousand even! Mitsui, this is a DECENT guy we're talking about here."

Mitsui whistled under his breath. "Well damn it all. I should've been there and gotten to him first."

Fujima chuckled. "Not a chance. Then again, maybe everyone else has a better chance at him than I ever will. I made a complete fool of myself!"

"Details."

"First, I forgot my name."

Mitsui burst out laughing.

Fujima opened his eyes and glared at him.

"Well, you don't have to go to the second one, Fujima," Mitsui said, his eyes gathering mirth.

Fujima rolled his eyes. "Bottom line is, I don't think I'll ever see him again."

"You never know--"

"Oh come off it," Fujima snapped. "Well, he DID have a companion with him. Redhead. Good-looking too."

Mitsui's eyebrows shot up. "I'm listening."

Fujima giggled and sat up. Mitsui let him. "I don't really know much about that one. But they're both working for the Quisterra Restoration Council."

"QRC people?" Mitsui asked, leaning back and lying on the bed with his arms cushioning his head from the rough mattress. "Government people, huh? Well that scratches him out of my list."

Fujima looked thoughtful as he turned around and crossed his legs under him. "You know, Mitsui. You should just stop it with your job."

"You kidding me?"

"It's dangerous."

"It's profitable."

"It's ILLEGAL."

"Its never bothered you before."

Fujima sighed and turned to lie right beside his friend. Mitsui scooted closer to the side to give him some space as the bunk was already barely big enough for two.

"You're right," Fujima said. "The illegal bit's never bothered me before. Besides its what keeps us a bit well-off than most of the others. But then I'm worried for you."

"Aw, that's sweet, Fujima," Mitsui said with a chuckle. "But I can very well take care of myself, dear."

"Oh, would you be serious for once!" Fujima snapped, rolling his eyes. "Come on, you're the only family I have."

"Same here," Mitsui said with a shrug. "It matters a lot to me that you care but, face it, Fujima, I was born a thief. I'll always be a thief. Its the only way I know how to live."

"So when's your next break-in?"

Mitsui pursed his lips. "Um . . . not sure. I'll confirm with the others first and then I'll tell you the details tomorrow."

"Liar."

"Fine, fine," Mitsui mumbled. "Its best if you don't know the details. Got a few new people joining in the club and well, I don't trust them. The fact that everyone in the 'club' thinks we're fucking isn't helping at all. I'd rather not leave too much information with you lest you become valuable to them."

"Oh that again," Fujima said with a groan. "Why the hell do they insist on that?"

"Maybe because we're two gorgeous guys who've been living together since time immemorial and they're jealous because we've never really shown interest on anyone else?"

"Anyone else?" Fujima repeated. "Mitsui, you're hot and all but you're not exactly the type of guy I'd find myself--"

"I know, I know," Mitsui said quickly. "I was only kidding. And you DO know that you're pretty and all that but you're like a brother to me."

"Oh shut up," Fujima said, punching Mitsui playfully on the arm.

The two boys laughed for a few minutes before lapsing into a long companionable silence.

Mitsui was the first to break it. "When's the last time you ever had sex, Fujima?"

"Excuse me?!"

"Seriously."

Fujima groaned. "You KNOW that I've never . . . done that sort of thing before."

"Oh," Mitsui said. "Yeah, I know. But then I was hoping you'd confide something interesting tonight. You know, like . . . 'Hey, Mitsui, I haven't told you anything before but I can't keep it a secret any longer. I've secretly been cavorting with this guy I met in the bar for three whole days now.' Or something to that effect."

Fujima rolled his eyes. "Mitsui!"

"Hehe," Mitsui chuckled. "Come on! Last time I did it was . . . last year. Been pretty drunk I could hardly remember his face. Sheesh!"

"Well don't vent out your sexual frustrations on me," Fujima muttered, turning to his side. "I've got enough frustrations as it is. I'll die a virgin, most likely." He yawned and closed his eyes.

Mitsui sat up and crossed his arms. "I was thinking," he said, sounding thoughtful. "You don't really have to die without getting some. I mean, its such a waste! You're missing a whole lot. And have you ever wondered if maybe . . . you know, WE could . . . get together?"

Fujima's eyes snapped open and he turned to face his roommate. "Mitsui. You're my FRIEND."

"It's possible," Mitsui said. "Look, I'm only entertaining the idea because there's no one else out there and I can't imagine spending the rest of my life celibate!"

"If you're considering me just so you could shove your dick up somewhere, then don't even bother!"

"All right, I'm sorry," Mitsui muttered, getting off Fujima's bunk and trudging over to his. "But I really meant it. You CAN'T deny that it's very probable that we'll eventually get together--at least given that we go on like this and nothing drastic happens. Like maybe the guy you met a while ago comes by and spirits you away."

Fujima sighed heavily and groaned. "Okay, I didn't mean it to sound that way, Mitsui. And do you actually think I'd leave you if that happens? I mean, we're brothers . . . right?"

"Well, yeah. . . ."

"So where one goes the other one follows, right?"

"Right. . . ."

Fujima grinned. "Good. Just clearing that up. I'm getting out of this damn planet. Wanna come?"

"Did you have to ask?"

Fujima's grin widened and he laid back down, closing his eyes. "Good night, Mitsui."

  
***   


Sakuragi trudged along the pathway to one of the most sleaziest inns he had ever seen. "We're spending the night in that?"

"You've got no reason to complain," Maki said calmly, knocking once on the rotting wood of the front door.

"No reason? I've got TONS of reasons. One I could think of now is that we've got plenty of money. Why choose to be economical now?"

Maki sighed heavily as he turned his back to the door in order to face him. "We have two months of travel ahead of us. We need as much money as we could spare."

"We're leaving for Asa tomorrow," Sakuragi reminded. "We don't NEED that much money in Asa! They've got resources everywhere. EVERYTHING'S cheap there."

Maki rolled his eyes. "We're not STOPPING at Asa, Sakuragi. We go to Rhea after that, then Frater, then to Fidelis. We might even end up in Vehetus or Genuseris, for all we know."

"It's useless complaining to you."

"Thank you for finally realizing it."

Subtly, Kogure intruded into the brewing argument with a slight cough. "Um, Sakuragi, I understand your . . . reservations about spending the night in this place, but Maki's right. We'll need a lot of money in our travels and its wise to choose to be economical now."

Sakuragi raised his eyebrow at his second companion and sighed heavily. Oh well, one could never argue with Kogure. "Fine."

Maki flashed Kogure a grateful smile before turning back to the door which was now being opened--with much difficulty--by a grumpy-looking old man with a crooked nose and thick rimmed glasses.

"Yeah. What do you boys want?"

"A room for the night," Maki quickly replied.

"Just the night?" the man asked, scratching the tip of his nose. "Okay. Come in. Oh, and watch your step. The floorboards are weak. Got two or three last week going through. Left the damn floor with three wide holes."

Sakuragi froze. "Maki. . . ."

"It's not THAT bad."

"Yes it is! Look, Maki, I'm not denying it. I'm a big guy. Those floorboards creak under that old man's frame already. I don't think they'll just be creaking under mine combined with all these bags I'm holding."

Kogure sighed heavily. "Look, I'll go first, all right?" He smiled at the old man, who by now had found his way behind a counter at the other end. He took a step forward, released breath when it creaked under him but didn't do anything more, and moved to stand in front of the counter by the stairs, carefully avoiding the padded up floorboards that, Sakuragi assumed, covered the "holes" the old man was talking about.

Maki shrugged. "See?" And then he followed suit.

Sakuragi stood outside, still unmoving.

"This place has got four floors. The top two floors have five apartments each but since you're looking for simple rooms, there's one free on the second floor." He took out a small key and handed it to Maki. "Third door to your right. Got three bunks. The bathroom's at the end of the hall. We follow a first come first serve basis."

Maki nodded and turned to Kogure, handing him the key. "Go on ahead." Then he faced Sakuragi. "Come on. Unless you want to spend the whole night out there."

Sakuragi sighed. "Fine." He took one step forward and sighed with relief when it didn't give in under him.

"I'm going out," a voice from upstairs filtered to the first floor as they heard footsteps heading down.

The old man chuckled. "All right. You've got three hours before I close up," he called out as a figure appeared at the top of the stairs. Said figure came jumping down, not even the least bit fearful of the creaking stairs under him as shown by his gait.

"I know," the guy said, grinning as he stopped three steps from the bottom. "New guests? They certainly look like they could afford some more."

Sakuragi raised an eyebrow and turned to Maki. "Uh-huh."

Maki ignored him. "Hey there," he called out to the newcomer.

"Hey," the man greeted back. "It's a worn down place but it keeps you sheltered well enough." With a tilt of his head he asked, "New in town?"

"We're from the Quisterra Res--"

"We're new, yes," Maki said, cutting Sakuragi off with a glare.

Sakuragi bit his lip. Of course, they weren't a part of the QRC anymore. And no one's supposed to know they worked for the Consul. "Yeah, we're . . . tourists."

"Tourists?" the man repeated, looking incredulous.

Kogure groaned and Maki slapped a hand to his forehead.

The man raised an eyebrow and grinned at the caretaker. "Tourists? In Quisterra? Okay. That's . . . weird. What the hell do you expect to see in this dump?"

Sakuragi blinked. "Uh. . . ."

"We're actually researchers," Kogure said. "From . . . Asa. We're from an independent group in the local university and we were sent here to study certain environmental patterns."

"Oh."

Sakuragi was silently thanking the heavens for sending Kogure to them.

"I see," the man said with a grin. "Well, in that case, good luck. I'm Hisashi Mitsui, by the way. I live up on the fourth floor."

Maki nodded. "Nice meeting you. Maki Shinichi. These are Kiminobu Kogure and Hanamichi Sakuragi."

"Pleasure. Okay, that's done. I really have to be going now," Mitsui said, turning to the old man behind the counter. "Um, Fujima sort of . . . doesn't know I've gone so if he wakes up and ask, tell him . . . I'm working."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks," Mitsui said, finding his way down to the bottom of the stairs.

Kogure shifted his bag from one arm to the other and moved towards the staircase. He never made it though. The moment he stepped forward, the floor gave way under him and his foot got stuck on the floor.

"Ah!" Kogure exclaimed but a strong hand grabbed hold of both his arms and pulled him out of the cavity immediately.

"Careful," Mitsui said, grinning. "You better know these floorboards well. The ones in the middle are VERY weak so try taking the ones at the sides."

Kogure swallowed thickly. "Um, thanks."

Sakuragi looked at the meager hole on the floor. "Okay, that wasn't deep at all."

"Actually, the bottom's just a feet down," the old man said, leaning on the counter.

"I wouldn't have minded if you told me that earlier," Sakuragi muttered, taking Mitsui's advice and scooting over to the side then approaching Kogure from there.

"Well, good night people," Mitsui said, patting Kogure on the shoulder and flashing him a charming smile before trotting to the door and disappearing behind it.

Maki gestured to the stairs. "You want me to go ahead?" he asked Kogure.

Kogure nodded fervently. "Yes, please."

Once in the room, Sakuragi promptly collapsed on the middle bunk--very much minding how uncomfortable it was but choosing to just shut up about it. "I can't believe we're leaving for Asa tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've been there and its not much of an eyesore compared to THIS planet."

"It's not an eyesore at all," Maki agreed, sitting on his own bunk and turning to Kogure. "So, what have you got on those sentries?"

Kogure set his bag on the side of his bed and pulled out some papers. "Um, the ones in Asa are headed by this Genuseris commander. Wait, I'll look for his name." He scanned through the papers and grinned. "Kaede Rukawa. Yep, that's the one."

"Never heard of him before," Maki said with a frown.

"He's recently been promoted," Kogure informed him. "I printed out his profile. Apparently, he's been under Akira Sendoh's training for three whole years. Well, I wouldn't be too surprised then. Sendoh's one of the best generals Genuseris has to offer."

"Which makes you wonder what he's doing working for that Minami," Sakuragi spat out. "I met him before and he's a fairly decent guy--too dang talkative if you ask me, and a tad bit too arrogant, but then he's decent still."

Maki chuckled. "Look who's talking."

"Shut up, Maki!"

Maki raised his hands. "All right. Anything more?"

"Yeah," Kogure said. "The sentries in Asa are directly under the command of the Aquila Potens. They won't be leaving that place unless Minami says so and it seems like he won't be giving orders for that anytime soon."

"And the other sentries?"

"There are four groups based in Frater, and three in Vehetus."

"And they're all under who now?"

Kogure scanned through some more of his papers. "Hiroaki Koshino in Frater and Toru Hanagata in Vehetus."

"Koshino," Maki repeated. "Funny thing that he's stationed in Frater. He almost never leaves Genuseris from what I heard."

Kogure shrugged. "Well, that's what the reports say."

Sakuragi closed his eyes and shut out the small discussion between Maki and Kogure. He'd hoped they would be leaving for Asa that night so he wouldn't have to spend so much time in this place. His eyes snapped open when the thunder cracked outside and the rain started to pour. "A storm. Just great."

"You don't have to worry about that," Kogure assured him. "I read in the newspaper that it'll be gone by tomorrow."

"Give me that newspaper," Sakuragi said, sitting up. "I need something to bore me to sleep."

Kogure smiled apologetically. "Sorry but I left it on my desk."

Sakuragi sighed and lay back down on his bunk. "This is so not my day." From his side he could hear something wet hitting the floor on regular intervals. "And we've got a stupid leak. This is supposed to be the SECOND floor for crying out loud."

"Why do you always have to complain?" Maki asked, exasperated.

"I complain because I have something to complain about," Sakuragi muttered, closing his eyes and listening to the continuous tapping of water against wood. Eventually he dozed off. A few hours later, he opened his eyes and found both Maki and Kogure asleep in their very own bunks. Shifting on his bed, he closed his eyes again and tried to will himself to sleep, turning to the tapping of water for help. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tog. Tog. Tog. Tog. Tog.

Sakuragi eyes snapped open. "Eh?"

Kogure and Maki had risen from their bunks and were approaching the door--the source of all the noise.

Sakuragi blinked and sat up. Indeed, someone was insistently knocking on their room door. "Who is it?"

Maki shrugged sleepily and went over to pull the door open. A man dressed in jeans and a purple sweater stumbled forward, messy hair flying about and covering his face.

Kogure blinked. "Are you all right?"

The stranger picked himself up from the floor and stood up on shaky legs.

"Kiyota!" a voice called out from outside the room. Almost immediately, a boy came running inside, kneeling on the floor to help his fallen companion.

Sakuragi stood up and walked over to the two boys. "What's going on? Why were you knocking on our door."

The boy that had been called Kiyota, threw his head back and glared at Sakuragi. "You! You're Minami's spy aren't you? You were sent here to kill the Consul!"

Sakuragi blinked. "Excuse me?"

His companion flushed with embarrassment and tried to pull Kiyota away. "Um, listen, Kiyota. I don't think we're here to accuse anyone yet."

"Accuse?" Maki repeated, closing the door and crossing his arms. "What's the meaning of this? Who are you?"

"My name is Soichiro Jin," the boy said. "This is my partner, Nobunaga Kiyota. We work for an independent agency stationed in the capital. Our leader's name is Takenori Akagi. Does he sound familiar to you?"

Maki's eyebrows shot up. "Akagi? You're from HIS agency?"

Kiyota gave him an enthusiastic nod. "Yes and we were sent here to investigate on Minami's spies. And that's you!" He pointed at Sakuragi, then at Kogure and Maki. "And the two of you too!"

"Spies?" Kogure asked with a frown. "I don't understand. We're not spies."

"Ha! That's what they all say!" Kiyota said, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. Meanwhile, Jin was doing a very good imitation of a ripe tomato.

"Look here, buddy," Sakuragi muttered. "We're NOT spies and we weren't SENT to this place. We LIVE in this planet, and we're leaving tomorrow to do our own investigation! And it's an official investigation, I'll have you know. We've got orders straight from Consul Miyagi!"

Kogure's eyes widened. "Sakuragi, you're not supposed to say that!"

Kiyota's eyes narrowed into slits. "Are you saying Miyagi's in this too?"

Sakuragi groaned. "NO you idiot!"

Kogure slipped between the two warring boys with his hands held up. "Listen, what made you think we're spies? And how did you know we're here?"

Kiyota prepared to speak but Jin promptly covered his mouth. "Um, we've actually been following you since this afternoon when you left the QRC office."

"Following us?" Sakuragi repeated. "Why would you want to follow us?

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Maki muttered. "They think we're Minami's spies."

"About that bit," Jin began, taking out a newspaper from his backpack and handing it to Maki, "its here. Page 8. The article was written by Hikoichi Aida."

Maki raised an eyebrow and leafed through the newspaper while Sakuragi and Kogure scooted over at either side of him.

"Hey, that's us," Sakuragi said, pointing at a blown up picture of the three of them in front of the newly built QRC building. "What are we doing there?"

Maki raised an eyebrow. "Read the heading."

"Minami's Men Infiltrates the QRC," Kogure read. "What?!"

Kiyota wrestled himself from Jin's grasp. "Yes. You've been caught red handed! The very moment Director Akagi read that part he sent us over immediately to aid Consul Miyagi!"

"Actually," Jin said. "We were just sent over to investigate if what Aida reports is true or not. He says that all three of you have been working under Minami for the past three months and you were planning to make a getaway this morning."

"What crap!" Sakuragi exploded. "I can't believe this! Who's this Hikoichi Aida?! How dare he mislead the public--"

"Actually, he's a good fabble spinner," Maki commented, flipping through the other pages. "He wrote an article about Consul Miyagi saying he's suffering from hypertension and hallucinates every so often. And he even mentioned you being 'the traitorous scoundrel who is at our dear Consul's side everyday, weaving his tricks like the brilliant infiltrator that he is and shrouding our great leader with lies and false reassurances.' What do you think about that?"

"Well, I AM brilliant and all. . . ."

Maki raised an eyebrow. "Of course," he said wryly. "Well, no doubt about it." He folded the newspaper up and threw it at Kiyota. "That reporter's a hoax. We're not working for Minami. In fact, we're working AGAINST him. We're leaving," he looked at his watch, "in two hours. Good thing you knocked, we would've almost slept through the whole morning. Kogure, pack your bags."

Kogure blinked. "Oh, okay," he said, moving to the side of his bed and zipping his bags close.

Kiyota's mouth dropped open. "Wait a second! You can't leave! We still have to report to Akagi. If you're not Minami's spies, we need proof."

Maki sighed. "You can take my word for it or you get your own proof."

  
***   


Fujima woke up at exactly six in the morning. He yawned and stretched his limbs before picking himself up and trudging to the comfort room to brush his teeth.

After doing so, he washed his face and began to change his clothes. "Good morning, Mitsui," he called out.

No one answered him.

"Mitsui?" Fujima tried again, buttoning up his shirt and leaving the bathroom, he glanced at Mitsui's bunk. It was empty.

Fujima raised an eyebrow. "What the hell--"

Before he could say anything more, a pale-faced Mitsui burst through the door, panting hard. "Fujima!"

"Mitsui?"

Mitsui cast him a strained smile and dove for the closet right beside his bed. He pulled out two large bags and started to stuff random stuff in them.

"What on Quisterra are you doing?" Fujima asked, rushing to Mitsui's side.

"Packing," Mitsui promptly answered, zipping up his bag once it had been packed to the brim and proceeding to dump Fujima's belongings into the other. "We're leaving."

"WHAT?" Fujima exclaimed.

"Long story," Mitsui said, closing Fujima's bag and throwing it to him. "But the gist of it is that I've been screwed. NO, not THAT kind of screwed. I meant betrayed, turned over, exposed. That kind of screwed. Some nosy rascal tipped off my old boss--the one I ran off from? The horny old bastard? Remember him?"

Fujima frowned. "You mean the one you stole the hundred gold pieces from?"

"Yep, that one," Mitsui said. "Well, he now knows this place and he's after my head. If we're not out of here in ten minutes, my old boss's people will come busting through that door to slit my throat. And maybe yours too." He grabbed Fujima's arm and hauled him out of the room. "I got shuttle tickets to Asa. Youhei arranged them for me."

Fujima's mouth dropped open as he was helplessly dragged to the stairs and to the third floor. "Remind me who's Youhei again?"

"A friend," Mitsui answered simply, catching Fujima as he tripped on a step and practically carrying him to the second floor. "Sorry about this."

Fujima was about to speak when he heard some footsteps coming from the bottom and two consecutive sounds of floorboards breaking. "Uh, I think we've got visitors."

"It's them!" Mitsui hissed, pushing Fujima back. "We have to hide."

Without thinking, Fujima chose a random door and kicked it open, shoving Mitsui inside. The two boys closed the door and leaned back on it, breathing hard.

"Mitsui?"

Mitsui's head snapped up. "Oh, er, the new people," he greeted. "Kogure, right?"

Fujima blinked. A comely young man with glasses stood a few meters away, looking at the two of them curiously. His eyes shifted from the boy to the other occupants in the room. Two men were standing right behind him and his jaw dropped to his chest when he saw the other two men standing at the side.

"Hey, you're the bartender!" Sakuragi said, pointing at him.

"You're name's Fujima, right?" Maki asked, smiling slightly.

Fujima stood there, frozen.

Mitsui got the hint. "Oh, so you met my friend," he said, grinning. "Um, we're just stopping by--" he paused when there seemed to be some commotion directly outside the room then continued when the noise died away, "--to greet you a wonderful morning!" He grabbed Fujima's arm and pulled open the door. "We're going now!"

He didn't get far though when a man popped out of nowhere from the other side of the door and promptly punched Mitsui in the stomach.

"What's going on?" Sakuragi demanded as Mitsui doubled over and fell to his knees.

That was when Fujima snapped out of his shock and knelt down to help his friend.

There were three burly men outside the room and all of them looked just about read to crush Mitsui's skull. Fujima had NO doubt that they could do so.

"Um, listen," Fujima began as he tried to drag Mitsui away from the door. "I know why you're here. But can't we . . . negotiate or something? We don't have to resort to violence now, do we?"

The trio didn't reply and marched into the room.

"Wait a second," Maki said, moving forward and holding up a hand. "This is our room and I didn't recall saying you could come in."

Kogure stepped back. "Maki," he whispered. "They've got knives."

Fujima gulped. He figured if he was going to die, he might as well do the right thing. "Okay, um, these people have NOTHING to do with us, all right? We'll come with you to wherever you want us to go, but you leave these people alone."

"All right then," one of the men finally spoke up. "Come with us." He reached out and grabbed Fujima roughly by the arm, dragging him up and throwing him to his companion as if he was merely a doll. Then he grabbed Mitsui by the shoulders and delivered another good one on his stomach before hauling him up on his feet.

"Hey, that's enough!" Sakuragi said, moving forward until he was nose to nose to the man holding Mitsui. "Let go of them. They didn't do anything wrong."

"Um, Sakuragi, please don't get involved," Fujima pleaded. "They'll kill you!"

"We're not allowing you to take these two away," Maki said, ignoring Fujima and standing right beside Sakuragi. "Please let them go and leave."

The man who wasn't holding anyone stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of Maki's shirt. "Listen, buddy. We've got our orders. Be thankful we're not coming for you."

"Wait a second," a man Fujima didn't recognize emerged from behind Maki. "Maybe YOU'RE the spies!"

Sakuragi groaned. "Kiyota! Would you quit it already?!"

The other boy's companion rushed forward. "I don't think they're spies, Kiyota."

"Jin, don't you remember what Director Akagi told us?" Kiyota asked. "Be skeptical about everything."

"But this is a little too much," Jin said.

"We've got no time for this," one of the goons said, pushing Sakuragi backwards and turning around.

"Hey, don't turn your back on me!" Sakuragi said, grabbing his shoulder.

The man turned around swiftly and delivered a hard punch on Sakuragi's jaw. The redhead stumbled back, quickly recovered then charged angrily, landing a blow on the goon's stomach.

Mitsui grinned and wrestled himself from one of the men's grip, turning a hundred and eighty degrees and kicking him on the chest while Maki shrugged off the last one's hands from his collar and roughly shoved him away.

Fujima had to scoot over to the side to avoid one of the goons who had stumbled back and had fallen to the floor. Surprisingly enough, the three men seemed to have fallen unconscious.

"What a bunch of weaklings," Kiyota muttered.

"Not like YOU did anything," Sakuragi spat out.

Jin had to hold Kiyota back when he attempted to jump the redhead.

"All right, this is not good," Kogure said. "I think we better go."

"Yeah, I think we should," Mitsui agreed. He grabbed his bag. "Let's go Fujima."

Fujima simply nodded and followed Mitsui out and it was only then when he heard heavy footsteps from the upper floor. "There's more of them?!"

"Seems like it," Mitsui said and then he turned back to the others. "I'd suggest you leave too."

"Don't need to say it twice," Sakuragi said, kicking one of the goons who had started to come round on the back and sending him tumbling back down onto the floor. The sound of the floorboard creaking made him blink. "Er, yeah. Let's go. Any objections, Maki?"

Maki simply shook his head and led Sakuragi and Kogure out.

"Leave with us or die," Sakuragi said simply to Kiyota and Jin.

The two looked at each other and scrambled out of the room, following the five others who were making their way to the first floor.

Fujima gulped as the footsteps started to get louder. "They're coming down!"

"Go, go, go!" Mitsui shouted, jumping to the bottom of the stairs and running out the front door. Sakuragi, Kogure and Maki followed him and just as Fujima was about to step out, Kiyota and Jin came stumbling down the steps.

"Don't pass by the middle!" Fujima called out. "The floorboards--"

Crack!

"Wah!" Kiyota exclaimed, plunging knee deep into the floor. Jin ran to him and tried to pull him out.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Kiyota kept on saying as Jin desperately pulled at his arms. Fujima left the doorway to assist him and just as two large figures appeared at the top of the stairs, Kiyota came free.

His heart working into a panic, Fujima grabbed both Kiyota and Jin's arms and dragged them outside.

Maki and Mitsui were rushing back to meet them.

"What took you so long?" Mitsui demanded.

"Kiyota got stuck--literally," Fujima explained before all five of them jumped off the front porch and ran for their lives.

As they passed by an alleyway, Kogure's head popped out. "This way!" he shouted.

The five skidded on their feet as they made a quick detour and followed Kogure down the narrow passage and out the other end where the market was. Sakuragi was already there, leaning on the wall behind him and breathing hard.

"Who were those people?" Maki demanded. "They looked like they wanted to kill you or something."

Fujima opened his mouth to speak but froze once he realized who it was he was about to talk to. And as luck--and fate--would have it, his mind replayed the past events when he made a total fool of himself before going blank.

Mitsui grinned when he noticed this. "Um, long story."

Kiyota's eyes brightened. "Maybe the two of you ARE the spies--"

"Oh, come off it!" Sakuragi snapped.

Jin pulled Kiyota back by the arm. "Listen, maybe we were wrong about them. We should send a report to Director Akagi to tell him that Aida's articles are all false."

"You do that," Sakuragi suggested.

"Um, but I think you should concern yourself on staying alive first," Kogure said, pointing ahead of them where a dozen beefy goons were making their way past the heavy throng of people. "They're coming."

"Into the crowd," Maki ordered and the seven sped off.

"Look, we have a shuttle leaving for Asa in half an hour," Mitsui said, running and panting at the same time. "We have to get a ride."

"We're leaving for Asa too," Kogure informed him, almost tripping over a basket of fruits--which quite surprised him since the local market in Quisterra hardly had any food to sell. Most were garments and other such merchandise.

Turning into another alley, the seven boys stopped to catch their breaths.

"Look, there's a stop up ahead. We can ride a bus to the airport," Jin suggested.

"We?" Sakuragi repeated.

"Of course," Kiyota said, brandishing two tickets in front of the redhead. "We're going to Asa too. Director gave them to us just in case you slipped past us. Once we got info on you spies--"

"Kiyota," Jin said in a warning tone.

"Figures," Maki muttered, breathing hard.

Mitsui shifted his bag from one arm to the next. "We better get going before they catch us here and have us running again."

Maki nodded. "Good idea." He turned to Fujima. "You having difficulty with that?" he asked, gesturing at Fujima's bag.

Fujima managed to gather up two words for an answer. "It's . . . okay. . . ."

"If you say so," Maki said. "Move it gentlemen. It's a long way to Asa."

****

~~~ End Chapter 2 ~~~


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